Calling for Landmarking of 13 Federal Rowhouses

Two More 'Federal-Era' Houses GVSHP Fought To Protect Are Landmarked 7/24/07

Two 1820 Houses GVSHP & NY Landmarks Conservancy Proposed for Landmarking to be Considered April 10th

Five More Of Our Federal Houses Considered for Landmark Designation by the City -- 1/31/07

Fifth of Thirteen Federal Houses Proposed by GVSHP for Landmarking is Designated -- 6/26/05

Two More Federal Houses GVSHP Proposed for Landmarking Advance -- 10/19/2004

Three of GVSHP's Thirteen Proposed Federal Houses Designated as Landmarks -- 6/8/2004

Thank the Commission for Landmarking Five of Thirteen Federal Houses, AND URGE THEM TO KEEP GOING -- CLICK HERE for sample letters

To View the Full Proposal for Designation of Thirteen Federal Row Houses, Please Select:

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GVSHP Receives Grant to Begin Federal Rowhouse Study in 1998

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and the Endangered Building Initiative (EBI) have called upon the city to protect thirteen outstanding federal era rowhouses in Lower Manhattan by designating them as landmarks. "Federal" rowhouses were built between the 1790's and the early 1830's, and embodied a newly created "American" architectural style, meant to visually reflect the identity of the young, emerging independent democracy.

Remarkably, about 300 of these houses survive in Lower Manhattan, some in pristine condition, some altered almost beyond recognition. And while many are protected by individual landmark designation or as part of historic districts, more than half of the houses have no protection at all, and these unique historic structures could be lost at any time.

In the late 1990's, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation began the process of documenting all of these incredible survivors, with an eye toward seeing them designated and preserved (this initial study was funded by Preserve New York, a grant program of the Preservation League of New York State and the New York State Council on the Arts). The study was continued and its work greatly expanded by historian Susan DeVries. While a few of these structures have been designated landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, most remain unprotected.

The attached document, compiled by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, contains photographs and background information about the federal rowhouse, and highlights thirteen of the most outstanding unprotected remaining examples of them in Lower Manhattan. We, along with the Conservancy and EBI are urging the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate all of them as landmarks. Those on Greenwich Street near the World Trade Center site, after having survived the disaster of September 11, face the threat of demolition due to redevelopment plans for Lower Manhattan. Others, like the three houses on MacDougal Street, remain vulnerable to institutional or private development due to their prime location near Washington Square Park, and their collective formation of a large potential development parcel.

If you would like to support designation of these 13 wonderful federal survivors, please send a brief note to Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Robert Tierney, One Centre Street 9th floor, NY NY 10007, fax 212/669-7797, or rtierney@lpc.nyc.gov. Please also send a copy to GVSHP at 232 East 11th Street, NY NY 10003, or fax 212/475-9582, or gvshp@gvshp.org.

CLICK HERE for '13 Federal Row Houses Proposed as Landmarks'

from the New York Times, March 21, 2004

Elected Officials Support Effort to Landmark 13 Federal Row Houses

If you are interested in Greenwich Village, join us.

Greenwich Village Society
For Historic Preservation
232 East 11th Street
New York, NY 10003
212.475.9585
gvshp@gvshp.org